Gulugulu also gguluggulu ideo. Commonly used with nywera and its derivatives. Very firmly, very tightly. Eccupa nnywevu be gulugulu. The bottle is tightly sealed. Kino kyange gulugulu. This is my very own.

Worry not about Kyankwanzi, but about the National Resistance Movement(National

Robbery

Movement)

and how, and why it is looting the country of Uganda dry:

Written by Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda

11 February 2015

The Uganda housing Slams in the city of Kampla

The chief of defence

forces, Gen Edward Katumba Wamala, sent a card late last month inviting me to the 34th anniversary of the founding of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.

It was a patriotic act to invite an opposition MP to a military function. In my last years in the media, I, together with Andrew Mwenda and Frank Nyakairu, had been barred from attending any military function or visit a military installation. That is how I did not cover the passing out, (or was it a graduation?) of generals Salim Saleh, Elly Tumwine, David Tinyefuza, and Noble Mayombo (RIP) from the UPDF Senior Command and Staff College, Kimaka in 2005.

The UPDF spokesman then, Col Shaban Bantariza, turned down my request, saying he had been instructed not to allow me even near the function. Apart from Mayombo, who died shortly after the course, don’t ask me whether the others have added any value to the institution of the UPDF.

Therefore, by Katumba Wamala inviting me, I think the expressed mission of turning UPDF into a national army has not been after all lost. I guess every MP was issued with this invitation. But I think there was an extra motivation to invite me because I sit on the parliamentary committee on defence and internal affairs that supervises UPDF.

Unfortunately for Katumba Wamala, celebrating the 34th anniversary of founding the UPDF, the so-called Tarehe Sita, negates the very purpose for which this invitation was issued to me and all other opposition MPs. I have extensively written about this subject in an earlier article.

February 6, 1981, is the day Museveni, together with Tumwine, Julius Chihandae, Fred Rwigyema and others attacked Kabamba barracks to loot guns so they could begin a war to remove Milton Obote from power. This UPDF that Katumba Wamala heads is a creation of the 1995 Constitution. It is, therefore, 20 years old and not 34. What is 34 years old is the guerilla outfit called National Resistance Army (NRA) that is no longer in existence.

It is through questioning the marking of days like this that one will understand the mindset of our revolutionary leader. He has denied us a chance to transit from the Luweero jungle mentality to a new order. I raised this matter in parliament last week and Speaker Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga summarily ruled me out of order. On that same day, parliament, for the first time I think in its history, refused to grant an MP a chance to introduce a private member’s bill.

The procedure is, you get parliament’s staff to help you print a bill, then you officially notify parliament by way of asking for what they call “leave” to prepare the bill.

That is what Dr Michael Lulume Bayiga did when he asked parliament to allow him prepare a bill called Presidential Transition. The NRM, led by new kid on the block Peter Ogwang, shouted a big no. Kadaga attempted to explain that this was more or less a ceremony. She noted that real work would begin when Bayiga tabled the bill to no avail.

That is how polarized this country has become. I hear in Kyankwanzi, Kasule Lumumba, the new NRM secretary general, has vowed to fail the Bayiga bill because for them they have a “sole candidate.”

According to Lumumba, thinking or imagining another president other than Museveni is now criminal in the NRM. We are in for interesting times. Don’t blame Katumba Wamala, a former UNLA soldier, when he invites people to celebrate the formation of a guerilla outfit. The most important issue for the citizens is to continue noting incidents of looting and abuses going on under this regime.

I hope you have not forgotten that we officially spend Shs 8.5 billion every month on the war in South Sudan. This amount doesn’t include the wear and tear of our military equipment and the loss of soldiers deployed to keep a weak government in power. Mind you, we don’t have Shs 4 billion to repair scan and ultrasound machines in public hospitals!

Our army went to South Sudan in December 2013. It is now about 14 months since that deployment. This, by the way, means we have so far spent Shs 119 billion executing a war on behalf of a weak leader.

That is why our expenditure on the military has hit a Shs 1.1 trillion mark. Out of this, Shs 342 billion is classified expenditure. The ordinary soldier continues to languish in ramshackle structures as the bosses ride in the latest state-of-the-art Land Cruisers. The ordinary soldier continues to live in the Luweero jungle as the bosses enjoy the ‘heaven’.

Harnessing the collective strength of everybody suffering under this regime is what has eluded us these three decades. This is not the opposition’s sole responsibility; church leaders, Muslim leaders and civil society must all act. That is what should occupy us; but unfortunately, the media is feeding us on the Kyankwanzi menu.

In the heart of Kampala city is the NRA's military police barracks at Makindye. During the Iddi Amin regime the same barracks was re-known for detention without trial, torture, and killing of many Ugandans. The property housing the said barracks belongs to the Buganda kingdom. It was taken over by the central government around 1966 following the abolition of kingdoms. When Museveni took over power he opportunistically restored the kingdom and promised to return the property. His army continues to occupy the said property with no intention of vacating It has taken him 28 years to handover the title deeds of the said property! The Buganda Kingdom earns rent from the Ministry of Defence.

Even under Museveni the role of Makindye barracks continued to be the same as had been the case under Iddi Amin. The only difference is that under Museveni there has been little information flow about torture at Makindye barracks save for the few highlights by international human rights organisations. Makindye Barracks is the NRA's tactical base for the brutal anti-demonstrations operations in Kampala city. Also during general elections it acts as the base for the army's terror and intimidation unleashed against both the opposition and the general population in order to coarse them to vote for Museveni. Military personnel are dressed in regular Police uniform at Makindye before they are dispatched to the city to cause mayhem. The barracks has been the holding ground of civilians arrested by different intelligence outfits like Operation Wembly, VCCU, KAP, Flying Squad, ISO, CMI, SFG. It has also been taking custody of civilians who are released by courts of law but the army immediately rearrests them from within the court premises and detains them in Makindye. At one time Museveni referring to Makindye barracks boosted thus "I have found a safer place for them where they cant escape". It is at Makindye that the likes of Kayihura and Hope Mwesigye (then Minister) competed for the securing the release of PRA suspects by involving behind the scenes negotiations between suspects, their relatives and Museveni.

At the quarter guard (main entrance) on the left hand side is block that has eight tiny isolation cells. These cells are used as torture chambers for suspects who are picked and isolated for torture from the main detentions facilities inside the barracks. They are used to hold those suspects whom the authorities do not want to be seen by other inmates so that forced disappearance is eased. Also they are used as a temporary holding ground for suspects who are brought in at night and for security reasons the authorities do not want to open the main detention facility. Further, it is at the quarter guard cells that the authorities conduct follow up interrogation and torture to extract more information from those victims who are already in detention. It is very common for operatives from the earlier mentioned intelligence outfits to make regular visits to makindye and order for the production of some suspect for further interrogation and torture. If a victim is lucky he is interrogated from these isolation cells where the interrogators exercise some restraint. During interrogation at the isolation cells, the victim is stripped naked, handcuffed to the iron bars of the door leaving only the toes to touch the floor. If the victim is not cooperative, he will be left in that state for the whole night for the mosquitoes to do the interrogation. However, if the victim is unlucky he is driven off to the safe houses in town from where he may never be seen again. The one time Commanding Officer of Makindye Col. Dick Bugingo used to tell suspects that for them (Military Police) they are just store keepers who were given 'goods' for safe custody such that if the owner(intelligence organisations) demands for his goods, he must be given at any time of the day without question. No wonder Col. Bugingo was retired immediately following the 2006 mysterious escape of high profile suspects from his custody.

Passing this quarter guard cell into the barracks, about 25 meters on the left is the infamous Go-Down cell. It is not clear whether the structure was build by the Buganda Kingdom or by the Iddi Amin government. It is used to house civilian incommunicado. The structure is a huge concrete building block with a high and wide metallic sliding gate. Inside the structure on the immediate left are two huge cells with burglar proof glass windows. The same applies to the right side. This ones are rarely used except for accommodating the terminally sick. Directly opposite the gate about 15 meters away are the infamous three underground cells from which the entire structure derives its name - Go-down. The Go-downs have strong metallic sliding doors and stair cases leading under ground about five metres. They have 30 metres high walls that touch the high roof where very tiny ventilators are located. Both during the day and at night detainees ease themselves in the plastic buckets. Every evening was is left to flow into the cells up to a quarter metre high. Guards are posted even on the roof during day time and can be seen from the 2 metres away main road to Lukuli Nanganda and the surrounding neighbourhoods. After many years of secrecy pertaining to the detention of hundreds of civilians at Makindye, an inmate took the initiative to compile their particulars and pass them on to the press who after running the story, their relatives raised alarm that compelled the authorities to lessen the grip.

Bypassing this Go-down on the right is the Commanding Officers office. By passing it on the left about 20 metres away is the main kitchen for the suspects on the right and on the left is the clinic. From the clinic upward about 10 metres away is a strong metallic gate leading to another detention facility called Zimwe. It derives its name from the contract to build a high concrete fence all around that Gen Kaziini awarded to Zimwe Construction. Its located at the barracks' peripheral bordering with the main road and the civilian residential quarters outside the barracks. This facility has four huge concrete structures with each one having two different big cells. The cells are self contained in terms of toilet and laundry. Among the Old Boys of Zimwe wing is Col. Samson Monday who was housed in Ward D. Also, one of the wards is called Ituri because that is where the PRA suspects were housed after being rearrested from court by the black mambas following their release by courts of law. The fourth structure was recently constructed to provide for senior army officers at a time the army was contemplating to detain Dr. Kiiza Besigye and was also stuck with Brig. Tumukunde's detention at the Officer's mess at Acasia Avenue in Kololo.

Around 2006 the detention facilities at Makindye underwent major renovation that was carried out by the NRA department of Construction and with the physical supervision of officials from the Buganda kingdom land board. Therefore, there is no doubt that Buganda Kingdom as landlords are fully aware of what their tenant (Musevenis) is using and abusing their property but since they are reaping huge sums of money they are not bothered. At the time, these officials from Buganda land board were even used by detainees to smuggle notes to media houses. The said notes contained the details of torture and incarceration that was being carried out by the NRA at the facility and The Monitor ran these details.

Kigo Prison on the outskirts of Kampala city is another Buganda property that is used by the NRA to torture and kill Ugandans whenever Makindye Barracks ran out of sufficient space. CMI, JATT, Operation Wembly, ISO, KAP, RRU, VCCU, and SFG turned Kigo Prison into an intelligence agencies detention facility. Using the cover of the General Court Martial, these intelligence outfits would detain and withdraw victims at will. The said Remand and Production Warrants by the court martial were mere papers in the possesion of these agencies and the victim needed not to have appeared before the court martial. At any time of the day or night, a victim could be removed from Kigo for further torture in the safe houses and never to be seen again. The OC of the Prison became an incorporated member of JATT with a monthly allocation of operation funds. Gen Tumwine as a special task Chairman of the General Court Martial at the time played a crucial role in legitimising the legal detention (see: General Court Martial - a tool of illegal detention by NRA).

Therefore, much as the Buganda kingdom financially benefits from its property being inappropriately used by the NRA, it is also knowingly aiding and abetting the commission of atrocities against Ugandans by the NRA.

INFORMATION IS POWER

It is now only A Change of Guards!

The recently built Mandela stadium has failed to make enough money for its survival.

Written by Alon Mwesigwa

Dated: 27 May 2015

Namboole stadium may be on the way down according to a report

Mandela National stadium is on the verge of collapse and is in need of a government bailout, a report has noted.

The parliamentary report of the committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) shows that the stadium has suffered more than a decade of “mismanagement and wanton abuse.”

The only way to resuscitate it is by injecting in more money, the report advises. The report notes that over the years, the stadium has accumulated losses to the tune of Shs 3.6bn, of which Shs 375m was in one year – 2011/12.

“In these circumstances, the going concern of the company may be compromised. It also means the stadium may not continue to operate without capital restructuring,” the report says.

“Government should recapitalise Namboole, renovate it and set targets for new managers and board of directors.”

The report says some of the challenges at the stadium include frequent and unplanned change of leadership, various government departments’ refusal to pay for the use of the stadium; vandalising of assets and equipment, lack of government funding, and accumulated debt, among others.

According to the stadium’s management, the frequent change of the board and management had weakened the structures and systems, rendering the enterprise unable to do business smoothly.

Constructed in 1997, the stadium’s shares are owned equally by the ministry of Finance and ministry of Education. It finances its Shs 1.9bn annual budget by renting out the stadium, halls, and office space. It receives no allocation from the treasury. The management is only able to collect Shs 1bn annually, which means they have been operating under a deficit.

However, most of the people who rent its facilities never pay, and the stadium does not have the capacity to collect the debts. The government bodies that hold events there never pay because they take it as a government facility.

The NRM, for instance, held the delegates' conference at the stadium in 2010 and paid part of the money. Fufa is yet to clear Shs 170m, while Pioneer Easy Bus has also not cleared Shs 180m for both parking and office space.

Yet creditors demand huge amounts of money to the tune of Shs 2.3bn from the stadium. Some Shs 270m is due to URA and Shs 1.6bn to NSSF, with some of the debts stretching from as far as 2004.

One of the people who served on the management team for some years says the problem stretches back from the day the stadium was handed over to Uganda by the Chinese.

He told The Observer: “It was run as a project and entrusted to people who had been doing the construction. There was never formal recruitment of staff. They would just call people to come and work either because they have been seen around the stadium often or known by management.”

This, he noted, made the situation worse as no system was put to plan to manage the income.

He added that there was also never a distinction between Fufa, ministry of [Education] and sports and the stadium itself, which exacerbated the abuse with officials at the ministry and Fufa ordering for events to be held there without pay.

ABUSE

While the enterprise is struggling to survive, there is high-level misuse of funds and abuse, the report notes. It says, for instance, management paid Shs 114.2m in 2012 to various undisclosed individuals as commission for bringing business.

“There was no policy regarding payment of commission and no receipts were shown to acknowledge that the named people actually received the money,” the report says.

A religious concert in Namboole stadium

Also, Shs 60m was advanced to staff and it remains unaccounted for. The issue is being investigated by the IGG. Some Shs 63m worth of goods were purported to have been delivered for consumption at the stadium, but there was no documentation for that. Meanwhile, another Shs 173m moved from different bank accounts without documentation or authority. The IGG is investigating the case.

While all this was happening, the stadium did not have an internal audit system, with management saying they did not have the money to hire an auditor, as unscrupulous staff exploited the loophole to swindle money from the stadium.

The board, too, does not have an audit committee, the report says.

ENCROACHERS

Ssewanyana, the managing director, told the committee that encroachers have continued to occupy and erect permanent structures on parts of the stadium’s 50-hectare land. In total, it is reported that 10 hectares are now under encroachment. The encroachers include self-styled veterans of Luweero bush war, Sports view hotel, a church and cultivators.

“But even in this sorry state, the stadium has experienced some of the worst mismanagement, which is an indictment to both ministry of finance and education, but in particular the minister responsible for sports,” the report concludes.

The stadium was built using a Chinese grant totalling about Shs 30bn. To run it, government incorporated the stadium as a limited liability company in 1999. esigwa@observer.ug

The Political Party of NRM in Uganda is split over Museveni age limit:

Written by Sadab Kitatta Kaaya

Created: 18 July 2016

The NRM Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa.

In districts, members of the ruling NRM have begun to untangle the most complex hurdle to the re-election of President Museveni in 2021 – the constitutional presidential age limit.

But the campaigners are not presenting a unified front. In the open, many NRM leaders feign ignorance about the ongoing campaign to push for the removal of article 102(b) of the Constitution that caps the age for a president at 75. But in private, the campaign seems to be fast gaining traction every day.

Some NRM leaders have condemned the Kyankwanzi Woman MP and district NRM chairperson Anna Maria Nankabirwa for spearheading the first public adoption of an NRM district resolution to lift the presidential age limit. The resolution was adopted and announced on July 4.

“She is being overambitious because, maybe she wants to be seen but I am sure President Museveni doesn’t want it, at least for now,” the minister of state for Tourism, Godfrey Kiwanda Ssuubi told The Observer on July 11.

The Kyankwanzi district NRM conference chaired by Nankabirwa took the lead on July 4 and passed the resolution urging its MPs to move a motion in Parliament for the amendment of the age-limit clause, which remains the only obstacle to Museveni’s hold onto power beyond 2021.

Museveni will turn 75 midway his current presidential term, which will make him ineligible to stand for another election. Government Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa too in a July 14 interview said that her namesake’s campaign was overly ambitious.

“It is their project and I can confirm to you that there is no forum where it has been discussed whether at the cabinet level or within the party leadership,” Ruth Nankabirwa said.

“I sit in cabinet and CEC [Central Executive Committee] of the party, and I have not got access to that information,” she added.

But an investigation by The Observer found the denials and criticisms of the Kyankwanzi Woman MP to be a façade. The government chief whip spoke to The Observer hours after a dinner for NRM district chairpersons at Hotel Africana in Kampala where the push was further amplified.

Museveni was the chief guest at the dinner that was hosted under the theme; Igniting the centrality of district chairpersons in the performance and growth of NRM to help Uganda achieve a middle-income status. The proposal for the removal of the age limit at the dinner was fronted by the Mitooma NRM district chairman Benon Karyeija soon after he delivered the opening prayer.

MEMORANDUM

It was also included in a memorandum that was presented to the president by the interim chairman of the NRM district chairpersons’ forum Hajji Twaha Ssonko.

“Because we didn’t have enough time, I was not able to read our memorandum at the dinner but it [removal of the age-limit clause] is one of the items contained in it,” Ssonko said in a Saturday interview.

In the interview, Ssonko said the campaign has been on for some time and it will be discussed further at a retreat for the district party leaders at the National leadership Institute (NALI) Kyankwanzi.

“It is an outcome of the regional meetings that have been going on, and it is good that the president agreed to have a retreat for us at which we shall discuss at length the proposals contained in the memorandum,” Ssonko said.

The NRM district chairpersons are fourth in the queue of delegations lined up for retreats at NALI. The retreats begin this weekend with ministers who will be followed by youth leaders, women leaders and then the NRM district leaders.

TERM EXTENSION

An MP from western Uganda who preferred not to be named told this writer at Parliament last week that much as some party leaders were admonishing the Kyankwanzi Woman MP, she is not moving in isolation.

“Hers was a first step; it was timely because we needed to test the waters before moving on with it because it is likely to generate a lot of controversy,” the MP said. “You wait, within a month, another district is going to pass the same resolution, and it will go on like that.”

Within a week after the Kyankwanzi NRM leaders passed the resolution, the MP said, momentum began to build up among NRM MPs to support it. Removal of the age limit campaign is moving in tandem with a proposal to amend Article 105(1) of the Constitution to extend the term of office of all national leaders by two years.

“We are not handling it singularly [because] we don’t want the public to think that the amendment is about only the president, we are pushing it together with the extension of our term to seven years,” the MP said.

According to this MP, the proposal to extend the elective term from five to seven years is popular among MPs but lifting of the age-limit is still contentious. The term extension bill was first suggested late in 2013, under the title, “The Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Council Extension Bill 2014” but it remained in the hands of a few NRM lawyer MPs.

DIVIDED

Some MPs are reportedly excited about the proposals because they see an opening for them to make money from Museveni. Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga is among MPs willing to work with the Kyankwanzi MPs to promote the proposal.

In a July 14 interview at Parliament, Abiriga said that before the Kyankwanzi NRM district conference resolution, the elders’ council of West Nile had sat and resolved to support the removal of the age limit.

“We [West Nile elders’ council] had a meeting in April at Arua district council hall and passed the resolution because we don’t see anyone who can match Museveni in ensuring peace and unity in the country,” Abiriga said.

The resolution, Abiriga said, was passed early because the party needs to politically prepare the youth for the amendment. But Mawokota South MP John Bosco Sseguya Lubyaayi said the two proposals are unnecessary.

“They [promoters] are being opportunistic, it is not necessary. People need to understand that [the age-limit clause] is about somebody’s life [because] at 75, someone has grown too old,” Lubyaayi said.

Lubyaayi who also doubles as the Mpigi NRM district chairman expressed his unwillingness to call a meeting to endorse such a proposal.

“The president unveiled the 23-point plan that we have to implement over the next five years, if we achieve that, why bother? Anyone else can take over from there,” he added.

Although she feigned ignorance about the plots, Ruth Nankabirwa admitted that she would entertain it if it came up in her district NRM conference.

“It is obvious that Museveni will be of age by the next elections and it is a matter that is causing anxiety among members. If it came up in my district conference because besides being chief whip, I am also the NRM chairperson for Kiboga, I will welcome it,” Ruth said.

DETRACTORS

Her Kyankwanzi counterpart, Anna Maria Nankabirwa sounded bitter on Saturday at her colleagues who accuse her of being overambitious and an opportunist.

“Those are detractors, the resolution is not my own; it is for my people and I have a duty to represent their views,” Anna Maria said.

“If anybody gave me an opportunity to ask for anything, I would ask for better health services, a water unit, road equipment, secondary schools for every sub- county in my district and capitalization for the sub- county Saccos. It is not my intention to be a minister,” she added.